(Be careful, Josh! If you eat all of those sour grapes too fast, you might choke!)
It’s been a while since we’ve heard Josh Koscheck make an offhand remark that has in turn reminded us of his decreasing necessity amongst the welterweight division. Most of us assumed his recent quiescence was linked to an inability to digest the five course serving of humble pie that Georges St. Pierre stuffed down his throat (and eye socket) back at UFC 124, and it appears we were correct. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Koscheck discussed everything from his upcoming UFC 143 fight with Mike Pierce to his dislike for the media and his thoughts on GSP’s recent injuries. And wouldn’t you know it, Koscheck doesn’t want the man who beat him twice to ever come back. Here’s what he had to say:
I’m interested in the outcome of the Diaz vs. Condit fight on Saturday night. Should be a good fight. Hopefully Georges is out for more than 10 months and they can make that Interim titleholder fight twice. Hopefully he never comes back. ACL surgeries can take a lot out of you. They say you truly don’t recover after those. I’ve had friends who have had those and they say they’re not the same so hopefully it equals out the playing field and we can get another crack at Georges.
Let’s get this straight, you don’t want St. Pierre to return, so you can fight for a future shot against him? To quote Ignignokt, “your logic is flawless.”
Join us after the jump for the whole interview, courtesy of MMAFighting.com.
Other things of note:
-Koscheck, like most people, find Helwani’s choice of footwear to be baffling.
-Kos is as committed to making amends with Canadian fans as Gina Carano is to deciding whether or not she’ll ever come back to us.
-When Pierce originally called him out, Koscheck thought it was a ploy by the UFC to find him an opponent, since the “upper echelon” of the division was tied up at the moment.
-Kos believes Pierce is a tough guy, but not a fight finisher, and is “good in every area, but not great.”
-After wishing GSP the worst of recoveries, Josh goes on to say that he and the welterweight champ “have always been cool,” and that outside of the cage, he could see the two of them hanging out. This notion is quickly reconsidered.
-Although he’s fully recovered from the broken orbital bone he sustained at UFC 124, the fight did leave him with a permanent numbness in his face that he says will remind him of GSP for the rest of his life. That, my friends, is true psychological warfare.
-Koscheck believes that he could have beaten Carlos Condit ”very easily,” and picks Diaz to do the same.
-After ranking Johny Hendricks>Jake Ellenberger>Diego Sanchez, Kos declares that rankings are “bullshit” and a product of “you press people that really don’t know too much about the sport and too much about what goes on.”
-Ariel takes offense to this statement, and says that Koscheck is high up on his list. Koscheck retorts, “What do you have [me at], 7, 8? You probably have Ingleburger and all of those other guys…*trails off*…yeah, it’s bullshit.”
So what have we learned today? Well, for starters, even if you think ranking systems are a bunch of crap, you STILL better have Koscheck in your top 4. Also, if you can’t beat ‘em, pray they suffer a career ending injury and swoop in.
-J. Jones
